And So It Begins....

[WestonE]

I think a dark night in a pub car park will make you glad you did fit the courtesy light. Love the period Air freshener

[SanRemo78]

Well there will be one on the back bulkhead... And I do have a Lancia Torch (if I can ever unseize the casing and restore it Eric....) It can be fitted at any time but right now I'm leaning towards not having one there.

Or I could fit a mirror with integral lights.... Hmmmm another little mod?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277950346098?_skw=rear+view+mirror+with+light+mg&itmmeta=01KRXSXC04H6CM0APTJX1TADW0&hash=item40b721b372:g:FFAAAeSw9zpp9iiW&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA4GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCIiwA3fwhC2BytQQnlfs7YBwDrtn5pwlclgQa3pE7QkQ3kHxOJqaS6ZXcM02Szxu0uqydYmUYRUrIN2IMF%2FmBnNi93A2U9WJb6e2Wb6O%2Bx5kjiwbx7hRmeITgN0rYdPmSK9cpDqzikYoWKQsOx%2BBxwrZpKNyd6A9m2VQaj%2BdebQmlHN9qNoVhW9NJdywpCVCOM%2BWSlLzaEuTS%2FBag3gvPXbPD5hkcJYl9zLS7IS1lJlmdZefSic4rkOn3xggJNlxki3NZMvbMs%2BHs9AaFP4P%2Fb%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-LA9bnHZw

[SanRemo78]

Parcels incoming with bits for the front indicators/sidelights tomorrow so I thought I'd revisit the rear lights in preparation for the wiring loom arriving soon.

The rear lights are changed to LEDs and you may remember the mod included a replacement aluminum plate to hold them instead of the original one to allow a little modification or two. Well, the idea that friction and the carpeting would hold said plate in place was just wrong and it needed to be secured properly. I've been mulling over various options but the simplest is generally the easiest so I opted to rivet in a set of angle brackets with a rivnut underneath the plate and bolt them in. Should I need to remove it it'll simply unbolt and if it doesn't I can easily drill the rivets out. Working out how to get the placement right was a mornings work but a bracket with a rivnut fitted and a couple of overlapping plates bolted to it (lower one replicates the actual plate and the top one rests on the edge of the lip allowing me to drill from the outside of the body for the rivet and then fix a bracket in place. Repeat 4 times. Next tool was a guide plate that sat over the rivet head and the lip with a guide hole above the rivnut to allow me to drill the hole in the backplate in exactly the right place. The first light took all morning and most of the afternoon (thinking time) and the second one an hour (practice) but would have been quicker if the drill hadn't caught and damaged one rivnut. Easy fix.

Then it was time to see what electricity does... Well, they're sodding bright! Really happy with the light output from this setup. I've got indicators, double reverse/fog lights and double side/brake lights.

[SanRemo78]

And the plates just bolt straight down and aren't going to move. I do have a slight concern over light bleed between the three lenses but before I decide to fit a set of tubes between the back plate and the holes in the reflectors I think I'll wait until they're all wired and tested. At night. When I'm stood about half a mile away...

[SanRemo78]

And with that it was time to make some progress with the front sidelights and indicators. There are two types of lamp body (that I know of)
Olsa with an earth strap between the two halves on the back, plastic bulb holder moulded into the body and the Altissimo one which has a metal bulb holder held in place with tabs through the earthed back plate. My Olsa ones are mixed, one's okay, the other has a big hole in it and is scrap. That's fine, I'm using the Altissimo ones because I can rip out the bulb holder and replace them with BAY15D bulb holders. I've ditched the white/orange lenses (so if anyone wants a new pair of those for a Coupe/HPE please shout) and have got a pair of clear lenses with a set of clear (good) screws to fit them to the body. The plan is to have the DRL in the headlights on permanently but not have them changeover to amber indicators. The bumper mounted lights will have two LED changeover bulbs each that are white on sidelights as usual but changeover to indicators or hazards when switched on. The bodies required one small repair to a mount, done with fiberglass resin, drilled and a stainless steel bolt fitted. Sanded both down and they're in primer today, tomorrow will see them get a coat or two of chrome effect paint. If the LEDs are as bright as the rear ones I may not need headlights....

And on other news I ordered a new water pump (VX/Montecarlo) and ignition switch from Mark today (with a request for heater hoses which I realised were missing, not available when I got the rest of the silicone hoses a couple of years back.....

[SanRemo78]

Pictures above show the Olsa unit with the earth strap on the back and plastic bulb housing (if anyone wants this please shout, it's spare and not needed). The picture below shows the Altissimo housing in primer with the bulb holder removed, ready for the new dual ones that are in the post now. Chrome paint tomorrow!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

A bit like Christmas today, postman brought a set of BAY15D bulb holders, a set of LED bulbs and some door lock solenoids!

The reflectors were given a coat of chrome paint to help improve matters and the holders modified to attach an earth lead to each of them, kinda important! A bit of sealant secured them into the housings after the back of one of the sections was drilled out to accommodate the longer bulb. An extra hole in the rubber cap and the screw holes greased and the screws run through to bottom out before the lenses were fitted.

Then it was time to hook them up to a battery on the bench. Ever looked at a weld being done? Spots on the back of your eyes... It's a bit like that, changeover from white light to amber is instant too so all that's left to do with them is bolt them into the front bumper and fit that to the car once the front valance is fitted and that needs the air con hoses fitting first for access and the fans wiring up.

[SanRemo78]

Kid in a candy shop, or is it bull in a china store? Both as it happens....

So the MG TF Mirror arrived today and before I could take any pictures it was broken down to see if it'll fit. It didn't take long to rise off the front revealing a pair of LED lights inside, I got the original stem/ball off but the Beta one is smaller. That meant a little modifying was in order and a 6mm drill through the ball allowed an M6 stud with a spacer and a couple of locknuts to be fitted before reassembly. The concern was the body of the mirror fouling the Beta mount. It doesn't quite, close but it'll work. So I tore it apart after a trial fit and took a file to the MG lettering on the back and have given the body and stem a clean up and a layer of wrinkle finish black paint. That'll take 48 hours to cure properly before it can be safely handled.

And the bull bit? I broke the dip mechanism on it. I can always get another one and repeat the exercise, they're cheap enough. I now have somewhere new to hang the air freshener!

[SanRemo78]

It's a tiny bit wider than the original and a lot thicker but I think I like it. Courtesy light and map light on both sides of the car.

Guy

[Ferrit]

That is a clever mod, I like this.  Maybe when I retrim my car I will copy you, you are a clever so-and-so :-)

[peteracs]

+1

[SanRemo78]

Off for the weekend to the Malvern Kit Car Show and back home Monday!

The mirror has taken a few more coats of wrinkle finish to get it to an acceptable finish and it takes a while (48 hours) to fully cure, even in this heat! After the first coat the filed off MG logo was still ghosting through but a couple of extra coats cured that issue! Come Monday I should be able to assemble and install it bar the wiring. I'll still do another one now I know how to dismantle it without destroying the dip mechanism...

Part arrivals - I've had another parcel from Mark with a VX water pump (slightly higher flow capacity than standard) so if anyone needs a new water pump I've got a standard one available. Also bought a new ignition switch knowing how fragile these are. I don't think it'll suffer the same loads with the new loom though. I got a couple of heater hoses too but we're not 100% sure they're right.

I also got an email to say that the pulleys I'd ordered and paid for 6 weeks ago have finally been shipped from Croatia. I have zero clue why there were delayed, maybe they needed to make them. That's water pump, crank and alternator plus the toothed belt and a new crankshaft nut on the way.

End of the month and I can settle the credit card bill and then hammer it again.. The other 50% of the wiring loom and a Wosp 175A alternator. Ouch. This air con system had better work. I've been reading through the wiring schematics and notes supplied and it seems to be a pretty clever system. For example, I can set the number of flashes the indicators give per minute between 30 and 60 I think. One touch of the stalk will give three flashes otherwise it's normal operation. I'm also thinking about modifying the side repeaters... I need to get some "translucent smoke paint" to darken the lenses once I've dismantled a pair. Then I can install some running LED units in there. My car my choice folks!

The wipers will be controlled through the magic box via the stalks, no loads going through them at all from what I can see. When you wash the screen apparently it will give three sweeps, a delay afollowed by a further sweep automatically. There may also be variable intermittent built in, I need to check that I've ordered the rheostat and what it looks like.

The control unit also contains an immobiliser and has an alarm and central locking. So I bought some solenoids for the doors, didn't realize that they came in 5 wire and 2 wire varieties, I've only ever seen/installed the two wire ones. Five wire ones arrived. Luckily they weren't expensive and even more luckily the wiring diagram says I needed to get five wire ones! They need a pair of changeover relays to operate plus an earth cable. The extra two wires are there to send a signal to the control box if you choose to use a key to open either door. I assume that will disable the alarm too but need to check that out.

The Malvern show should see another silly parts hunt conclude - the screen washer hoses in both thicknesses! And a fuel filter that I need to splice into the line between the tank and pump.

Catch you all next week I hope!

[Ferrit]

And the plates just bolt straight down and aren't going to move. I do have a slight concern over light bleed between the three lenses but before I decide to fit a set of tubes between the back plate and the holes in the reflectors I think I'll wait until they're all wired and tested. At night. When I'm stood about half a mile away...

How do you cut out things like your light backing plates, do you have a plasma cutter?

M

[SanRemo78]

How do you cut out things like your light backing plates, do you have a plasma cutter?
M
[/quote]

Hi Mark, no plasma cutter here! The rear light plates were traced from the outside of the housing, I then carefully cut inside the scribed line with a hacksaw and then fettled it back to a good tight fit with hand files. Once it fitted inside I could mark the bulb centers through the lenseless bodies and then mark and cut out the holes and finally cut the slots that locate the holders. Then drilled the holes for to take the wiring back into the housing. Which was silly, I should have just run them over the back. And then repeat the whole palaver for the second housing. And then a week or two back it was the final fixing as described because, whilst the plates are a tight fit, there's no way they would stay there!

Guy